Former Maha governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari meets present present incumbent Ramesh Bais at Raj Bhavan

Former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari met present incumbent Ramesh Bais at Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai. The meeting between Governor Bais and Koshyari was a courtesy call, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.

Supreme Court on Thursday termed as unjustified Koshyari’s decision as then governor to ask the Uddhav Thackeray government to prove his majority on the floor of the House following the rebellion by a section of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.

The top court observed that governors have no power to enter the political arena or take part in any intra-party or inter-party disputes. The communication expressing discontent on the part of some MLAs is not sufficient for the governor to call for a floor test, the court said.

The governor ought to apply his mind to the communication or any other material before him to assess whether the government seemed to have lost the confidence of the House, the court said, while assessing Koshyari’s role in the political crisis that led to the fall of the Thackeray-led government last year.

The floor test cannot be used as a medium to resolve internal party dispute or intra-party disputes by the governor, the court had said, but ruled that the status quo ante cannot be restored because Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation.